Seed-cleaner.



No. 722,140. PATENTED MAR. 3, 1903. F. J. FRAME.

SEED CLEANER.

v APPLIQATION FILED 0012.28! 1901. No MODEL.

FRANK J. FRAME, OF SHILOH, OHIO.

SEED-CLEANER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 722,140, dated March 3,1903. Application filed October 28, 1901. Serial No. 80,328. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, FRANK J. FRAME, a citi- Zen of the United States,and a resident of Shiloh, county of Richland, State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Seed-Cleaners, of whichI hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to' make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in seed-cleaning machinery; and theobjects of the invention are to provide means for distributing theair-supply from the fan uniformly to the discharge-spout and thus insurethat all chad and lighter grains shall be discharged therefrom. Y

My invention consists in the division of the fan-chamber into severalportions, whereby the air can be admitted freely into the interioropening thereby obtained, and in means for further dividing theoutlet-current to the delivery spout, as hereinafter described, shown inthe accompanying drawings, and specically pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l shows a vertical longitudinalsection of the seed-cleaning machine. Fig. 2 shows a horizontal sectionof the same on the center line of the fan.

Heretofore it has been found that a fan rotating in a chamber andsupplied from airopenings at either extremity of the chamber would notdistribute the air with uniform strength of current throughout thelength of lthe fan, but would distribute the air freely at the ends ofthe fan, while only a very weak draft from the fan would reach thecenter. Thus much chaff and dust would fall into the seed-receptaclebelow. My object is to avoid this inequality of draft from the fan, andI accomplish it in the following manner:

In the figures, lis the fan; 2, the chamber or drum in which it rotatesupon its shaft 3. 4 represents the external airinlet openings.

5 represents the openings between the divisions of the drum 2.

6 is the outlet-passage or vertical blast for the draft from the fanthrough, which the seed falls into the receptacle 7, and S is the hoodthrough which the dust and chaff are blown.

Openings in the extremities of the drum-sections. This damper can bepulled out to close all the openings or open them proportionally. Bymeans of this device the air must be evenlydistributed, since theopenings near the outer extremities of the drum are too small to allowmore than the desired proportion of air to enter, which being turnedaway enters the openings farther toward the center until the entire areaof the discharge-passage is filled with the blast, no one portionreceiving more current from the fan than another.

The drum is shown divided into three portions; but more or lessdivisions could be made and other forms of dampers employed withoutdeparting from the spirit of my`invention.

Damper-slides, as 13, can be employed to shut oif as much of theair-supply to the drumsections as may be desired if the draft becomesexcessive, since the draft must be regulated to adapt it to the weightof the seed undergoing the cleaning process.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

The combination with a drum, air-inlets thereto, a fan and ablast-passage therefrom, of means for distributing the air equally tosaid passage consisting of apertures in the side walls of the drum, saidapertures being smaller at the extremities of the drum than at thecenter, and means for proportionally opening and closing said apertures,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed4 my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANK J. FRAME.

Witnesses:

THOMAS B. STAIRS, GEORGE B. KAYLOR.

